"I hope that Brittany will stir within you the noble, charming chords that are united in your intelligence by a miracle that nature rarely performs on the deep and austere chords."
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Marcel Proust (1871.1922)
Autograph letter signed to Georges de Lauris.
Four pages in-12°. Autograph envelope.
Kolb, Volume III, pp 408 to 410.
Written on a torn bi-sheet of paper, which Proust's handwriting skirts around.
Thursday [August 20, 1903].
"I hope that Brittany will stir within you the noble, charming chords that are united in your intelligence by a miracle that nature rarely performs on the deep and austere chords."
Proust describes the charms of Brittany to his friend Lauris, while recounting the Humbert Affair (pleading by Labori) and its friendly unpleasantness.
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“Thursday. Dear friend, I have unsuccessfully sought and then misplaced the enclosed information about Brittany. I am adding the following details, based on what little I know. Beg-Meil is an orchard of apple trees sloping down to the Bay of Concarneau, which is the noblest, sweetest, and most delightful place I know. And I think the Bay of Morbihan must be quite beautiful. You simply must go to Pointe du Raz; you know what it is, historically and geographically, literally Finisterre (the extreme point of the earth), the giant granite cliff around which the sea remains ever wild, overlooking the Bay of the Dead, opposite the Île de Sein. These are places of mourning and illustrious misfortune that you must know.” But I confess that I infinitely prefer Penn'march which you cannot avoid, a sort of mixture of Holland and India and Florida (Harrison said) * where a storm is the most sublime thing that can be seen.
You, my dear friend, have caused me a great deal of trouble by not telling the truth (never!) to Picard at Bertrand's. I didn't dare, searching for a way to prove my good faith and good intentions, to let the opportunity slip by when he asked me to be his best man. And this has put me at odds with the Straus family, the Le Bargy family, and a thousand other unwelcome repercussions . I'm not giving you any news of Bertrand because I think you have more than I do, and also the favorite, Henraux. He (Bertrand) left Paris; I believe it was last Saturday, eight days ago (it will be fifteen days after tomorrow). I had dinner that evening with Antoine and him, and we put him on the train, quite cheerful. Antoine left Paris on bad terms with me. He is apparently in England. I would like to see you, my dear friend. Give my regards to Henraux. I dare not ask you to present my respectful homage to your parents, which is unfair (that I do not know them), given that I admire and spread the "words" of your father.
How sad it is to see Labori turn the Humbert Affair into a parody of the Dreyfus Affair, where he himself plays the role of the General Staff with its absurd secrets, always promised . My only regret in being a Dreyfusard is that it saddens the noble and loyal Albu. He did ask me to explain the case to him so he could share my conviction, but I lack the courage.
I hope that Brittany will stir within you those noble, charming chords that are joined in your intellect by a miracle that nature rarely performs on the deep and austere. If you were to tell me: I will be in Paimpol on such and such a day, or on the Île de Bréhat, etc., I would take the train and rush there (if I am still in Paris at that time). Again, my regards to Henraux. I am not entrusting you with any errands in Paris, for, all things considered, his conduct towards me has been less than satisfactory. Moreover, I can no longer even remember him, and if sometimes I glimpse him in my imagination, it is only ever handing out party favors, although I have never seen him at a ball! Yours truly, Marcel Proust.
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* The painter Thomas-Alexander Harrison (1853-1930)
** Proust feared falling out with the Emile Straus family because Mme Straus's son had fought a duel with Picard in March 1903. Proust had agreed to be Picard's second in the altercation the latter had just had with Auguste Le Bargy, a member of the Comédie Française. (Kolb, Volume III, note 5, page 410)
*** Labori, defender of Zola, Picquart and Dreyfus, was the lawyer for the Humbert couple.